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Pacific Islands Greenhouse Gas Abatement through Renewable Energy Project (PIGGAREP) - Fiji Interventions

Background

Fiji lies between 177 ° E and 178 ° W Longitude and 12 ° to 22 ° S Latitude with a land area of 18,333 km 2 and includes 320 islands of which about a third are inhabited. The most recent census was held in 1996 when Fiji’s population was 775,000 showing an annual average growth rate of only 0.8% since 1986. Of the total, 51% were Fijian, 44% Indo-Fijian, and 5% other. About 46% were urban with over 250,000 people in the Suva-Nausori-Lami corridor. By 2004, Fiji’s population was estimated to have reached 844,000. For several decades, Fiji’s economy has been highly dependent on sugar and other agricultural exports, garments and other manufactured goods, gold and other primary products (timber, timber products, fish) and tourism.

Baselines

Retained petroleum imports to Fiji including LPG apparently grew by about 1% annually from 1990-2003 to about 350 million litres. However, there are numerous gaps, anomalies and errors, and the oil companies would not provide data, so this is an estimate. Fiji has a larger fuel market than most neighbouring countries and prices are generally lower. For motor spirit, the wholesale price (excluding import duties and taxes) is about 25% below the average for PICs. For LPG, Fiji’s wholesale price is below average for the region but the retail price is higher.

In 2003, hydro provided only 53% of FEA’s generation of 699 GWh due to a drought, but hydro has been steadily declining as a percentage of the total over the past decade. In 2003 FEA had 14 power stations with 194 MW of installed capacity, including over 80 MW of hydro. Growth in generation has been uneven but averaged 6.4% from 1997 through 2003.

In 2000 Fiji emitted about 900 gigagrammes (Gg) of greenhouse gases (GHG) from petroleum fuel consumption. This is only approximate as petroleum imports have been erratic and data are questionable. Assuming that Fiji’s economy grows slightly faster than population, as it has since Independence, by 2010 GHG emissions will reach 1500 Gg in the absence of new investments in renewable energy or energy efficiency (RE/EE). Ignoring possible economic, financial, social and environmental constraints, in principle, Fiji could reduce GHG emissions by over 500 Gg per year in a decade through substantial investments in renewable energy (over 90% of total) and to a lesser extent energy efficiency (under 10%). Renewable energy from a variety of sources – hydropower, geothermal, wind, solar energy, biofuels, bagasse, municipal solid waste, etc. could in principle be combined to produce all electricity for the grid system.

The PIGGAREP Support

The PIGGAREP activities identified for Fiji build on 2 key initiatives: (1) Govt of Fiji Rural Electrification Programme and the (2) the Pacific Islands Cooperation Programme with the Government of Italy .

Govt of Fiji Rural Electrification Programme

DOE’s 2008 Business Plan has over forty activities. Of the 40 activities, 15 are renewable energy activities with a total budget of FJD2 million. These are the co-financing activities in Fiji and include the following:

• i) Renewable Energy Database

• ii) Renewable Energy Statistics

• iii) Capacity Building

• iv) Solar Home Systems (SHS) Programme

• v) Somosomo Hydro Project

• vi) Nabouwalu Hybrid (Wind/Solar) Project

• vii) Biogas Programme

• viii) Wind Programme (Survey & Long term monitoring)

• ix) Hydro Programme (Survey & Long term monitoring)

• x) Wave Programme (Survey & Long term monitoring)

• xi) Solar Insolation Programme (Survey & Long term monitoring)

• xii) Renewable Energy Standards

• xiii) Compilation of Hydro Potential Report (based on 500 sites already being surveyed)

• xiv) Hydro Detailed Designing (2 projects per year)

• xv) RED Infrastructure Framework (Standard Operating Procedures)

Pacific Islands Cooperation Programme with the Government of Italy

Fiji has signed the cooperation’s communiqué and submitted proposals, including 10 biogas digesters. A ctivities which have been proposed to the Italian government include i) Enactment of Fiji's Energy Bill & review/adoption and re-enactment of relevant policies, frameworks and legislations for RETs, ii) Detailed designing for hydro projects in the Bua (Navakasali/Naruwai), Cakaudrove areas and iii) Detailed designing and construction of hybrid (wind/diesel) project on Gau Island (Vadravadra) - to include maintenance, management, etc.